Keynote address and special roundtable presentation at the 2025 Society for Ethnomusicology Southern California and Hawai'i Chapter (SEMSCHC) Annual Conference.

Keynote: Mantle’s Memories: Embodying His Legacy in Ethnomusicology

Roundtable: The Heritage of Ki Mantle Hood for Ethnomusicology: Reflections on the Past 70 Years

Mantle Hood (1918-2005) was a pioneer in the field of ethnomusicology. He taught at UCLA from 1954 to 1975 and was the founder of the Institute (now Department) of Ethnomusicology at UCLA. Hood trained numerous scholars who went on to found ethnomusicology programs at the University of Washington, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, University of Hawaii, Wesleyan University, Brown, and Florida State University, as well as programs and research institutes across the globe. One of his major theoretical contributions to the field was "bi-musicality," the idea that as a fundamental aspect of research methodology, ethnomusicologists—presumably musical in the Western classical tradition—should learn to play the music of the cultures they study. Considered controversial when published in 1960, the theory has now become an established part of the discipline. He was a leading figure in research on Javanese gamelan music and arranged for one of the first gamelans to be taught at a U.S. university. This set of instruments (bronze gongs and metallophones) was cast in Java and given by the Javanese the honorific name Khjai Mendung (Venerable Dark Cloud). Hood is also remembered for his ethnographic documentary film on Ashanti drumming, Atumpan: The Talking Drums of Ghana. In 1971, he published The Ethnomusicologist, which outlined research issues and questions in a then still nascent field. He received numerous awards and fellowships, including a Senior Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities, a Fulbright Fellowship, and a Ford Foundation Fellowship. Hood served as President of the Society for Ethnomusicology from 1965 to 1967.

Hazel Chung Hood played a pivotal role in establishing the bi-musicality methodology at the UCLA ethnomusicology program by teaching World Dance studies. Hazel paved the way for students to study world movement arts at universities across the country. Hazel taught and trained Judy Mitoma who would later go on to become director of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Center for Intercultural Performance. Hazel taught in universities in Hawaii, Indiana, Maryland and New York, steadily planting seeds in the minds of young dancers in universities across the country that World Dance studies are crucial to cross-cultural understanding. Hazel was married to the late Prof. Dr. Ki Mantle Hood, who established the Institute of Ethnomusicology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in the early 1960s. Hazel learned Ghanaian dances in West Africa in the mid-1960s and taught courses on Southeast Asian dance at UCLA. Hood and Chung equipped with audio-visual recording equipment filmed in Ghana the classic documentary on drumming and dancing called, Atumpan: The Talking Drums of Ghana (1964). Chung is a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music Dance Program and a recipient of awards from the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Indonesian government.

Made Mantle Hood is professor of ethnomusicology, Chair of the Graduate Institute of Ethnomusicology and Director of the Asia-Pacific Music Research Centre at the Tainan National University of the Arts, Taiwan. He serves as Chair of the ICTMD PASEA study group. His research interests include ontologies of sounded movement, endangered forms of vocalisation, and music and social justice. He is currently the lead researcher in a Taiwan Ministry of Science and Technology-funded project (2022–2025).

Robert Garfias (University of California, Irvine) researched gagaku for both his master's thesis and his doctoral dissertation. The focus of his research was a study of the living contemporary practice of gagaku in the Japanese Imperial Palace and to trace, from historical documents, the patterns of change which occurred during the 900 years of its practice in Japan. Garfias' thesis (1958) was entitled “The Basic Melody of the Tōgaku Pieces of the Gagaku Repertoire.” Garfias' dissertation (1965) was entitled “The Tōgaku Style of Japanese Court Music: An Analysis of Theory in Practice.” A version of his dissertation entitled “Music of a Thousand Autumns: the Tōgaku Style of Japanese Court Music“ was released as a book by the University of California Press in 1975. During his academic career Garfias founded the ethnomusicology program at the University of Washington, served as Dean of the School of Fine Arts at the University of California, Irvine, and conducted significant periods of fieldwork and language study around the world, including in Japan, Korea, Burma, Okinawa, the Philippines, Mexico, Central America, Zimbabwe, Romania, Turkey, and Spain. Garfias was appointed to the National Council on the Arts of the National Endowment for the Arts and also the Smithsonian Council. He served as a senior research fellow for the Japanese National Museum of Ethnology in Senri (Osaka), Japan. In 2005 the Government of Japan awarded Robert Garfias with the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon, for his contributions to promoting traditional Japanese culture and cultural exchanges between Japan and the United States.

Bonnie Wade (University of California, Berkeley) A graduate of UCLA’s Institute of Ethnomusicology (MA, 1967; PhD with Distinction, 1971), from 1971- 75 she was Assistant Professor at Brown University and after 1975 on the faculty at UC Berkeley. There she started the ethnomusicology program, one of the oldest and most distinguished in the country. At UC Berkeley, Wade has served twice as Chair of the Department of Music (1983-88 and 2005-2009), Dean of Undergraduate Services (1992-98), Chair of the Deans (Provost) of the College of Letters and Science (1994-98), Acting Chair of Art History, (2015-2017), and Chair of the Group in Asian Studies (1999- 2017). At Berkeley she has held the Chambers Chair in Music and the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Distinguished Chair in Interdisciplinary Studies. Her greatest honor was being awarded The Berkeley Citation, the highest honor the university gives in lieu of an honorary doctorate. In the international sphere she is a former Treasurer of the Society for Ethnomusicology (1975-1978), President of the Society for Ethnomusicology (1999-2001), Vice-President of the American Musicological Society (1991-1993), on the Directorium of the International Musicological Society (1987-1997), and has served as Chair of the Archives and Research Centre for Ethnomusicology (India) (1991-1996).

Münir Beken’s (University of California, Los Angeles) career spans theory, composition, ethnomusicology, and performance. As a composer, he has written a state-commissioned ballet suite for orchestra, won awards for film music, and scored television documentaries both domestically and internationally. His scholarly work focuses on modal theory; he is also conducting research on musical globalization and the phenomenology of music. He has published in Ethnomusicology, a premier journal in the field, and contributed to The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. He was one of the founding members of the State Turkish Music Ensemble.

Spencer M. “Robby” Robinson, Jr. was born in 1953 in Los Angeles, California to Gertrude (Composer) and Spencer (Aerodynamicist) Robinson. He has one sibling, Gail, his sister. His ethnic background is Ashanti, Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Scotch. Tragically, car accidents claimed the lives of his father and sister, but he has several outlets for recovery, including: loving grandparents, aunts, uncles, languages, law, engineering, veterinary medicine, civic activism, education. He received his degree from Princeton University in 1975 and has worked in the field of architecture while maintaining a passion for landscape photography. He is the co-founder of the Gertrude Rivers Robinson Memorial Fund-SEM and a donor to both the GRR Collection, Indiana University, AAMC and the W. Napoleon Rivers ’21 Collection, Talladega University. Spencer is the principal caregiver for his elderly aunt. He has travelled through Indonesia, the Caribbean, Europe, and the South Pacific and maintains his physical fitness and joy for living through the Trojan Masters Track Club (400M), DIY projects (houses, cars, trees, and gardens), and the blessing of his godsons and goddaughters.

Lani Hall, Schoenberg Music Building, University of California, Los Angeles.

Keynote: Mantle’s Memories: Embodying His Legacy in Ethnomusicology by Hazel Chung Hood

(21:06 – 23:30): You're very kind, and I feel very blessed to be here with you and to be part of a celebration of life, a huge celebration of a life that I shared. I really don't know how to begin, but I think I feel like it's OSCAR® night. I want to first thank my family, to thank my three sons. And you will notice that their names all begin with M. I want to thank Maiyo Hood, first son who left us, and spent his whole life in China. He's still there. His name, Maiyo, was taken from Jose Maceda’s family from the Philippines. Mitro Hood--second son--who brought me here this week. His name was taken from Sumitro, the older brother of Hardja Susilo. Third son--you just met him--Made Mantle Hood. His name was taken from I Made Bandem, who we brought here to UCLA. He earned his M.A. in dance. He returned back to Bali and became the reviver, the nurturer, the leader in reviving the traditional arts in Bali.

(23:30 – 26:23): I want to thank Maureen Russell, Supeena, so many people. So where to begin? How did I meet Mantle Hood? It was through the Ford Foundation. I received two grants from the Ford Foundation, one to study at Juilliard, and the second one to go to Indonesia. He had already been in Indonesia, and I kept hearing about this person, Mantle Hood, so I wrote him a letter, and I asked him, “Where should I start first, to study? Should I go to Java or to Bali?” And he said, “Of course, Java.” He was absolutely right, because he had studied dance also, and he knew the movements, the meditative, deep movements that it takes to learn this dance. It’s the most difficult. Judy Mitoma was one of the students who immediately felt that style and she was beautiful in it and captured many of the nuances and the slow, deep movements. It's a meditation, Javanese dance. So, I went to Indonesia. I went and studied in many of the places that Mantle Hood was studying in the palaces, the dance centers. We had almost the same teacher as a dancer. Dancers are musicians, musicians are dancers, they're totally integrated. I was there for two and a half years, so coming back from Indonesia, I had no idea what I was going to do with this exotica material. I could go into nightclubs, put the ‘Boob Boobs’ on, you know, and do all these fancies, but that's not what I wanted to do. Neither did I want to go to a university. I didn't know what I was going to do.

(26:23 – 27:28): So, once again, the Rockefeller Foundation put us together because Rockefeller was already supporting the Institute [of Ethnomusicology at UCLA]. They said, “What is this girl, Hazel Chung, going to do with this material? There's already a gamelan. Let's send her to UCLA.” Once at UCLA, well, to introduce ethnic dance here was difficult. It took him [Mantle Hood] a long time to convince Alma Hawkins, who was Chair of the Dance Department, that ethnic dance was something. But it did happen. We did get together after many, many months of training, and I did come to UCLA and started the ethnic dance program here.

(27:28 – 30:02): I want to give you a quality of, and share the person who I was with. Most of our time was spent on this stage [Lani Hall, formerly Popper Hall]. I have not been back here for a long, long time, maybe 50 years, but the stage is still the same and the audience. This is where we lived. Is there still a basement with all the music downstairs? [The original Gamelan Room at UCLA was in Schoenberg Music Building B544; that is, in the basement.] That's where we were. That's where we spent most of our lives. We danced here. We explained what cultures were like. We always had dance with the music going on, because his belief, of course, was that they were well integrated.

(28:33 – 30:02): I want to share with you a part of him [Mantle] that you can read. Made Hood said to me, “Let's go back and read his bio.” You know what? I think I never really read it, so I went back, and I read it, and I felt I really didn't know this man [audience laughter]. Because there is a deep, spiritual thread that integrates, that permeates his whole life. The Quantum Forces of Creativity is really not about creativity; it's not really about a theory. It's about a source, about a deep spirituality. How can I put it? Synchronicity? You've had these experiences in your life, synchronicity, happenings. You meet somebody you haven't seen for a long time. Maybe I can explain better what this person knew from the very young age of seven, that he had a job and he was going to do it.

(30:02 – 30:38): Let me share some of my experiences with you that may give you an idea of these happenings, of these miraculous things that have no explanation. I'm going to draw from three areas, mostly from Bali, Island of the Gods, because that's where I experienced embodiment. That's where I experienced so much of what these forces were for this man.

(30:38 – 32:00): The first one happened in Bali. I had just started studying the opening ritual dance with a famous dancer, Ibu Reneng [Ni Ketut Reneng], and she said, “Now you're ready. We can go and perform it.” I didn't feel I was ready, but I wanted to have a recording. And she arranged it. And we went to the RRI [Radio Republik Indonesia] radio station, where all the best musicians were, and we tried to begin the recording, but it would not work. The big gong shattered [the microphone] every time the recording started, so they finally canceled it. We cannot do the recording today. The next day, we came back with all the offerings, the incense, the chickens, whatever, and they performed this ritual for the gong. And you know what happened? Its sound was deep and beautiful. So that's one I want to explain to you.

(32:00 – 33:22): The second one happened, and this is very much the kind of embodiment of music and dance that Made [Hood] was talking about. The Baris dance. Because I had been trained at Juilliard and had the musculature to do the male dances, I was the first female to do male movement, so the Baris suited me well, and I trained for that. When I was ready to be presented to the Balinese audience, there was baby Baris, I Made Bandem, and me, the Baris woman from the USA. So here we are. It was going to rain. There were 1000s of people in the audience. So first, we wait, and we must stop the rain. The rain stopped, it didn't come, and we were able to perform.

(33:22 – 35:06): The other one I want to tell you about is performing in the palace with President Sukarno [President of Indonesia]. He had heard about this girl who was doing male dances. His favorite dance was from Solo [Surakarta]. I was studying in Java, so I had to go to Solo. He invited me to a command performance at the palace. I began to study, and then we were at the palace for one week, training with the musicians and training with my teacher. The night of the performance arrived. I'm dressed with the kris [dagger] which is worn as an heirloom and a sacred instrument as well. My teacher dressed me. I was fine, but I think because I was so excited and trained as a dancer when I did a pirouette the kris flew out and landed like this [blade stuck in the ground] in front of President Sukarno. [The audience gasps.] Oh my God, that's what happened. That's what the audience did, they all gasped. I didn't know and I just continued dancing. I think the teacher just came and pulled it away. Well, it got into the papers, into the New York Times, the Jakarta Post. So how do you explain such a thing? I don't know. These are things that happen.

(35:06 – 35:47): I almost lost my life in Ithaca, when I was performing the Balinese mask dance. It was a huge stage, and the technician didn't come for the rehearsal. So, you know, on stage, with the lights, you can't see, you don't know the depth of the stage. I kept going forward, forward. I couldn't see. I fell into a deep pit [orchestra pit], and I was saved because my arms caught underneath.

(35:47 – 36:30): Let me tell you about the Baris because this is so important in embodiment The Baris dance is the most exciting thing I have ever danced in my life, because the kendang drummer is also a dancer. With the slightest flick, he has to pick up your movement and start the gamelan in the dynamic. That experience I will never forget. Also the meditative style of Java is still very deeply there.

(36:30 – 38:01): I must tell you about instruments that are sacred that I have acquired. One is the gamelan angklung, the mini version of the big gamelan. This angklung is still with me. These are sacred instruments. I should not have acquired it in Bali but it’s with me. The other is the first gamelan that was played on this stage and in the basement. These are sacred instruments. They should not still be in my basement. Before I die I want to see them placed somewhere. Made [Hood] and I have talked about this. They should go to a special music instrument museum where they are honored. It torments me. Now there are perhaps 350 gamelan in this country but these were the first. We need to do something. So I ask your help.

(38:01 – 41:00): Let me return to Mantle Hood’s autobiography, Quantum Forces of Creativity. It was overwhelming, and I thought, “I really didn't know this person.” As he explains, this is not about quantum theory, but is dedicated to the mysterious forces of attraction, these mysterious forces I tried to share with you, because they permeated his whole philosophy of life. He writes, “I am a confused mystic,” something he never really talked about. He had a gift of ESP, extra sensory perception. He was great at autonomic writing. He wrote seven novels. He was interested in everything, bonsai, golf, archery, jazz. He was a musician. He was Shirley Temple's favorite bartender [audience laughs]. He was a Hollywood star. He was an understudy. I could go on and on and on, but you can read about it. He had a very intense presence. It was a glowing presence, highly developed listening skills, a heart, and warm acceptance, forever. No matter who you were, no matter what skin color, you're black or white, whether you are a professor or not a professor, Mantle Hood was there. He embraced you. He believed that we are all interconnected, no matter what color and what status, you all felt acceptance, and compassion, and a love for humanity. He wanted to be of service to humanity. He also talks about a spiritual force of touch. And he said it's like two thumbs pressing into the back of the skull, this occipital ridge. When he wanted to make a decision, he felt this force from age seven, and it was pushing him forward and upward.

(41:00 – 43:27): In Chinese astrology, he's a Horse, I'm a Monkey. These two points of acupuncture at the base of the occipital ridge are called the “Pillars of Heaven.” I'll share a personal story with you. I was alone with him when he took his last breath, when his soul departed. I was just holding him and kind of making fun and touching. That is how we really met at Getrude Ronbinson’s house. Through touch I have always had a sense of helping people through touch [Ohashiatsu]. When he took his last breath, it was like a horse whinnying, as if he was galloping into his next space, into this next journey. His desire to be of service to mankind is based on the East Indian philosophy of Guru and student, the student must surpass the teacher. As I look into the audience, I see Bonnie Wade, Ric Trimillos, oh my gosh, I see many students who have all surpassed him and have kept his dream alive. Mantle Hood is peacefully smiling. He's very happy, he has a hand on his heart, and that drink that he originated, called the “fud,” the PhD, [similar to a Jack Daniels Old Fashioned] in his hand. And he is thanking you all. Thank you.   

[Transcription lightly edited for clarity]

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